Utah Jazz Handed Concerning Future Outlook

The Utah Jazz enter this coming season with some tempered expectations.

With such a young, inexperienced team centered on development, the focus in Utah this year is clearly looking toward what's to come for the future. The Jazz have spent the past several years collecting young players, draft assets, and building for a long-term, sustainable approach back to competitiveness, with that timeline likely taking some years to truly fill into its final form.

However, even with the Jazz's mindset focused on the long haul and a brighter future, when stacked up against the rest of the NBA, Utah's future still might not be as appealing as you'd expect.

ESPN's NBA insiders recently stacked up each team around the league and their futures in the latest "NBA Future Power Rankings," sizing up who might be in the best position when looking ahead just three years.

In that three-year window, the verdict on the Jazz remained pretty pessimistic. Utah found its future ranked as the 24th-best in the NBA. It's the same ranking they had dating back to last offseason, but not the most positive sign for what's to come in Salt Lake City.

"In his first offseason as president of basketball operations, Austin Ainge signaled that the Jazz are still taking a long-term approach after drafting Ace Bailey with the No. 5 pick. Utah moved on from veteran guards Jordan Clarkson and Collin Sexton and starting forward John Collins, so the Jazz might not need to sit key players to rack up losses this season," ESPN's Kevin Pelton wrote. "The problem is Utah's rebuild, which is entering Year 4, hasn't produced an All-Star centerpiece to team up with or supplant Lauri Markkanen."

This offseason marked a true turning point in Utah. After bringing in new president of basketball operations, Austin Ainge, the Jazz wasted no time overhauling this roster in order to turn the clock back by dealing multiple veterans. Now heading into next season, the Jazz look much younger and are able to freely develop this new core without the burden of playing multi-year veterans.

But the conversation surrounding the Jazz has remained consistent for a few years now: they don't have that coveted elite building block or 1A star that can be the centerpiece of this rebuild, and until they do, rising up the ranks of the Western Conference is difficult to make happen.

Did the Jazz finally discover that star in Ace Bailey this offseason? That remains to be seen, but until he, or someone else on Utah's roster, can pan out into that compatible star to lead next to Lauri Markkanen, they'll likely be stuck behind the 8-ball when sizing this roster up to the rest of the NBA, both for now and when looking towards the future.